Freeview occasionally Pixelates

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eXDee

4032 posts

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Trusted

#25510 23-Aug-2008 20:08

Hey there,
For some unknown reason im getting pixelation (and blockyness) for about a second or less when watching Freeview HD, mainly noticed on One since thats what we've been watching, but i think its happened on 3 too. It happens randomly every couple of minutes, and sometimes only in one area of the picture.
It doesn't happen on the Sony iDTV upstairs.

Any guesses on what could be causing it, and solutions?
Considering trying the Arcsoft codec or putting some foil in an antistatic bag between tuner and gfx card.
Temperatures seem okay, the graphics card sits around 50-60'C idle (asus silent) and the cpu is 24'C idle.

Specs and setup:
AMD 5200
8500GT
2gb ram
HVR-2200
Cyberlink Powerdvd 8 codec (latest)
Mediaportal (latest svn)

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82 posts

Master Geek

#159195 23-Aug-2008 20:19

I was getting alot of this also, mainly viewing the Olympics. I changed to the Arcsoft codec today and havent seen any artifacts yet.

JaBZ

404 posts

Ultimate Geek

#159288 24-Aug-2008 12:12

Is anyones current Mens coverage of the marathon constantly stuttering? For example like there isnt enough bandwidth in a playing video download off the net?

My opinions and ideas expressed in posts are solely my own and do not reflect the views of my employer in any way..

amphibem

138 posts

Master Geek

#159307 24-Aug-2008 13:00

JaBZ: Is anyones current Mens coverage of the marathon constantly stuttering? For example like there isnt enough bandwidth in a playing video download off the net?

I was watching it no problems about 20 mins ago

JaBZ

404 posts

Ultimate Geek

#159353 24-Aug-2008 17:14

Damn tin foil time :P

My opinions and ideas expressed in posts are solely my own and do not reflect the views of my employer in any way..

charley

183 posts

Master Geek

#159368 24-Aug-2008 18:33

eXDee: Hey there,
For some unknown reason im getting pixelation (and blockyness) for about a second or less when watching Freeview HD, mainly noticed on One since thats what we've been watching, but i think its happened on 3 too. It happens randomly every couple of minutes, and sometimes only in one area of the picture.
It doesn't happen on the Sony iDTV upstairs.

Any guesses on what could be causing it, and solutions?
Considering trying the Arcsoft codec or putting some foil in an antistatic bag between tuner and gfx card.
Temperatures seem okay, the graphics card sits around 50-60'C idle (asus silent) and the cpu is 24'C idle.

Specs and setup:
AMD 5200
8500GT
2gb ram
HVR-2200
Cyberlink Powerdvd 8 codec (latest)
Mediaportal (latest svn)

I have a hvr-3000 card and recently got the hvr-2200. The hvr-2200 has been very random. Channels can play fine one moment then pixelated the next. These blocky moments can occur every few minutes or even seconds. The hvr-3000 card plays freeview fine all the time so i know it's not the signal, graphics card decoder chip or h.264 codecs.

I've been using the CD Version 4.6b (WinTVCD 4_6b.exe 52mb) drivers. Noticed they also have seperate drivers for the hvr-2200 "WinTV-HVR-2200 Drivers Version 7.2.9.26105 5mb". Will give those a try and see what happens.

charley

183 posts

Master Geek

#159952 26-Aug-2008 18:29

Unfortunately no change with the "WinTV-HVR-2200 Drivers Version 7.2.9.26105 5mb" drivers.

Hey eXDee, With "ScanChannelsBDA v2.4.4" what quality percentage do you get with the hvr-2200 tuners?
http://www.hauppauge.co.uk/board/showthread.php?t=12081
http://www.wintvcd.co.uk/tools/ScanChannelsBDA_UK.exe

With the "Scan single frequency test" the average "quality" i got was around 30% :(

eXDee

4032 posts

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#159986 26-Aug-2008 21:26

Will test it out when i get my replacement HVR-2200 back (cheers ComputerLounge).
I'll stick some tin foil in there, though i think i'll use an oven bag as i dont think 60'C close to a snap lock bag will go down too well.

We get around 55db when plugging a signal tester in and tuning it to a freeview mux. This is with a 91 element + old amp all over quad shielded RG6, so its not as high as i would have wanted, probably bad alignment.

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Little

82 posts

Master Geek

#160064 27-Aug-2008 09:30

charley: Unfortunately no change with the "WinTV-HVR-2200 Drivers Version 7.2.9.26105 5mb" drivers.

Hey eXDee, With "ScanChannelsBDA v2.4.4" what quality percentage do you get with the hvr-2200 tuners?
http://www.hauppauge.co.uk/board/showthread.php?t=12081
http://www.wintvcd.co.uk/tools/ScanChannelsBDA_UK.exe

With the "Scan single frequency test" the average "quality" i got was around 30% :(

I have the same setup as you (hvr3000 + hvr2200) and get 100% quality on all frequencies with both cards, using that util. As I said earlier, I too got blocky artifacts untill I changed to the arcsoft codec. I'm running RC2 with no SVNs applied.

charley

183 posts

Master Geek

#160083 27-Aug-2008 10:48

I think my HVR-2000 card might be faulty?

Did you guys have any problems picking up analogue channels in wintv?

eXDee

4032 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#160198 27-Aug-2008 16:09

Anyone who is using the arcsoft codec - can you please confirm with graphedit?
Media Player Classic refuses to use it and Mediaportal simply falls back to PDVD8.

charley

183 posts

Master Geek

#160217 27-Aug-2008 16:48

eXDee: Anyone who is using the arcsoft codec - can you please confirm with graphedit?
Media Player Classic refuses to use it and Mediaportal simply falls back to PDVD8.

Have you tried changing codec priorites with RadLight Filter Manager v1.6?

eXDee

4032 posts

Uber Geek

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#160225 27-Aug-2008 17:25

Got it working in Mediaportal and MPC. I used arcsoft connect to update it, then for some reason there was another update in totalmedia as well.
Works good on my main PC, will test on the mediacentre when i get the tuner back. Downside is that it seems to a second or two to start decoding.
Anyone know what the .ax files used are so i dont have to fill up my HTPC with heaps of programs?
edit: the filter is ASVid.ax, however even after registering almost every .ax file in the the folder along with it, it won't play video. Unfortunate.

mcraenz

1140 posts

Uber Geek

#160235 27-Aug-2008 18:06

Re:Pixelation. When you see it, rewind and watch the same section again if you don't see the pixelation again in the same place then problem has nothing to do with the tuner card. If you do see it again then it's almost certainly a signal problem (Strength/Cleanliness).

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browned

636 posts

Ultimate Geek

#160335 28-Aug-2008 08:09

mcraenz: Re:Pixelation. When you see it, rewind and watch the same section again if you don't see the pixelation again in the same place then problem has nothing to do with the tuner card. If you do see it again then it's almost certainly a signal problem (Strength/Cleanliness).

I have a Nova-T-500 dual tuner and get pixelation on TV One quite a bit. Recorded TV does not have the pixelation. I have only checked it once with an actual recorded video file, I also check with timeshifting by rewinding the olympic cycling, where I had almost half a extra bike pixelated on the screen, and noticed the extra cycle was not pixelated again in the same spot/time.

I haven't done a full on test yet but think that we are looking at something other than the TV Tuner. I have a USB Tuner which I can also test with so I might plug that in today (off sick

).

I am using DVB Viewer by the way.

cheers
db

charley

183 posts

Master Geek

#160341 28-Aug-2008 08:37

eXDee: Will test it out when i get my replacement HVR-2200 back (cheers ComputerLounge).
I'll stick some tin foil in there, though i think i'll use an oven bag as i dont think 60'C close to a snap lock bag will go down too well.

We get around 55db when plugging a signal tester in and tuning it to a freeview mux. This is with a 91 element + old amp all over quad shielded RG6, so its not as high as i would have wanted, probably bad alignment.

eXDee what was the problem with your HVR-2200 and did the replacement fix that?

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